Juno Recommends Brokenbeat / Nu Jazz May 2021

Review: Matt Lord has been working on and off with the 2000 Black crew since the early 2000s, though it's only in recent years that he's stepped out of the shadows. He first officially collaborated with Dego on a joint EP in 2018, the rather fine One Way To Another, and here the pair reunite for another jaunt through jazz-funk-influenced EP rich in rubbery bass guitar lines, jammed-out keys, and on EP standouts 'Mandarin Delight' and 'Bee Side Inside', fizzing disco synths and guitars. Yet while those two flipside cuts draw heavily on disco and boogie for inspiration, the rest of the EP revolves around broken beats, with Lord and Dego adding their jazzy and funky touches to heavy bruk-up rhythms.

Review: Louie Vega is one of the wonders of the natural world. He has been making timeless music for more than a quarter of a century and unlike many of his aged peers, he still very much keeps on knocking it out of the park. The fourth part of his Eclipse project with the Elements of Life crew is another golden one. 'Fantasy' (feat Melanin) is a soul drenched opener with broken beats and trademark instrumental flair. Things get deeper on 'Harlem River Drive' with its Latin flourishes before 'You Come Into My Life' is a gorgeous vocal cut with jazzy keys. 'Bass Run' is a shuffling, finger clicking, rump wiggling gem to close.

Review: Earlier this month, First Word Records dropped an epic, digital-only compilation in which members of the label's large family of artists either collaborated with or remixed each other. This 12" boasts four of the collection's undoubted highlights. The EP begins with a simply stunning Kaidi Tatham remix of Allysha Joy's soul-jazz treat 'Better' - think deep broken beat meets liquid jazz-funk and sultry neo-soul - and ends with a fiercely sub-heavy and surprisingly spaced out K15 broken beat rework of Teotima's 'But I Can't'. Sandwiched in between you'll find a jazz-funk-goes-bruk re-wire of Takuya Kuroda's 'Fade' by KEARL (that's K15 and Darkhouse Family's Earl Jeffers) and a wonderful fusion of squelchy synth-jazz and broken beat courtesy of Quiet Dawn and Sarah Williams White.

Review: If you're looking for some heavyweight bruk-up business with serious sub-bass and plenty of dancefloor weight, we'd heartily recommend this fine four-tracker from 4 Hero's Marc Mac. All four tracks are brilliant, with the veteran North London producer giddily kicking things off via the '80s electro-influenced, bruk-funk of 'Uptown Posse', before opting for energetic hand percussion, chant style vocal snippets, electric piano motifs and fizzing synths on the rolling 'Kingston Hot'. You'll find a few subtle nods towards dancehall on the thrillingly percussive, bass-heavy electro-bleep cut 'Run Track', while EP closer 'Duppy Riddim' somehow manages to be insatiably funky, impressively weighty and attractively drowsy all at the same time. Masterful!

Review: Francisco Mora Catlett is a Mexican drummer, composer and educator. He began his musical career in Mexico City where he worked as a session musician for Capitol Records between 1968-1970. He left with Sun Ra in 1973 and worked with him until 1980. While in Detroit in 1987, he released his first album as a leader, the Pan-Afro project "Mora!". Mora II continues the concept of the first album, with wife Teresa Mora on vocals and trumpet legend Marcus Belgrave, This follow up album has finally been given a high quality vinyl reissue by London's Far Out Recordings.

Review: The evergreen Far Out Recordings here serve up, for the first time ever on vinyl, Mora! II, alongside the previously released Mora! Mexican-American percussionist and former member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Francisco Mora Catlett recorded the first of these albums as private presses in 1987. The follow up was with an expanded Detroit jazz brass section but was shelved for many years. Both are pan-American melting pots that stir up afro-cuban rhythms, fiery sambas, frenetic batucadas and much more which is why they have become such gold standard Latin jazz classics.

Review: According to the accompanying PR blurb, Alpha Mist's third studio album was inspired by a desire to go back to being an East London beat-maker, with Bring Backs cannily combining these hip-hop roots with the jazz, soul and jazz-funk fusions he's become known for in recent years. In truth, the album is still more heavily rooted in the jazzier side of his work than tapped-out, sample-heavy MPC grooves, but that's no criticism. There's some genuinely magical material on show, with a swathe of guest musicians - spoken word artists, singers, woodwind and horn players, double bassists and so on - joining in on tracks that neatly sidestep convention. The level of musical detail is staggering, while the vibe is warm and sun-kissed throughout.

Review: The VV Experience make their debut with Nuality, where the London-based outfit explore their trademark brand of jazz/electronic fusion. The five tracks featured on the release were recorded back in 2018, live in one day, at The Boathouse Studio in 2018 with their trombonist VVilhelm (Ebi Soda) at the controls. From the late night smoky jazz bar vibe of 'Shapeshift', to the contemplative and bittersweet mood music of 'Lostalgia' leading up to the sunny big band energy of 'Runnas' which closes it out - there's some fine musicianship to be heard on this one.